On Monday, February 18th, the Parish Life Initiative ad-hoc Steering Committee will meet to debrief our Initiative meeting from January 20th. At this meeting we’ll summarize the comments and suggestions and develop a game plan to respond to questions; respond to immediate concerns; and prioritize our implementation steps.

Please know that I’m already meeting with parishioners who have enthusiastically responded to the Initiative and are already looking to start new or revitalize existing apostolates. We’ll continue to disseminate information here, the web site blog (located here: http://www.stjoanofarcstl.com/news/) and the parish Facebook page.

Don’t forget to sign up to participate in the annual Progressive Dinner. Held on March 9, this is a great opportunity to come together as a community, meet new people, enjoy food and fellowship and trash other people’s houses! (Just kidding!) Come be a part of the fun!

Happy Catholic Schools Week! Today we’ll celebrate Mass with the South City Catholic Academy community. There’s an Open House after the 10:30am Mass; all are welcome to join the SCCA community for donuts, tours of the school building, and meeting students and faculty. The students will enjoy special activities throughout the week.

The Parish Life Initiative (PLI) was a great success. My thanks to all those who participated in the planning meetings and those who came last Sunday. We generated so many ideas and got such valuable feedback! I’ve already got meetings scheduled to start cultivating some of these ideas and put them into action. We’ll use the bulletin, website blog, and our Facebook page to disseminate those ideas and action items. There are two next steps then:

1. One more meeting of the steering committee to debrief on the PLI.2. Individual Group Apostolate Meetings with interested parishioners who are ready to initiate and motivate some of the ideas generated. Watch the bulletin, website blog, and Facebook page for more information.

Next on our radar: Progressive Dinner. It’s scheduled for Saturday, March 9th. There’s more details coming in the bulletin but save the date for this casual, fun, community-building event. Participants will visit the homes of two parishioners for drinks, food and fellowship; and then the entire group returns to the SJA Parish Center for dessert! It’s a great evening! I hope you can join us.

And finally: I’m heading out on a little mid-winter R & R. I’m leaving Tuesday, January 29th and I’ll be back Monday, February 4th. Monsignor Dempsey is in charge but please DO NOT let him give away the cats or sell the school parking lot to CVS. In fact, this time, I’m taking the check book with me, because last time I was gone, he was watching Home Shopping Network and bought a 30-piece pot-and-pan set, 3 vacuums, a curling iron, and a gold watch. Brutal!

The SVDP has a long pedigree in St. Louis and at St. Joan of Arc. Its mission is simple: assist the poor with as much help as our resources allow. At St. Joan of Arc we are able to help with food and utility and rent assistance. Volunteers respond to requests by meeting with them and not only providing for their immediate needs, but also working with them to budget their finances and help them with similar tasks.

Our SVDP maintains our Food Pantry and also assists St. Agatha’s food pantry in Soulard. Volunteers collect and sort food items and when requested, fills orders and either delivers the food or makes arrangements for the food to be picked up at the parish office.

Our SVDP never gives cash but always works with landlords and utilities to assist in bill payment and budgeting assistance.

Our St. Vincent de Paul society is always looking for help. If you’re interested in helping, please contact Fr. Craig and he’ll put you in touch with current members of the SVDP.

Advent Penance Service and Individual Confession: Monday, December 17th, 7-8pm in church. Monsignor and I will both be available. We also have our regular confession times: Saturdays, 8:30am until all are heard; and then 3-4pm before the Vigil Mass.

Introducing the Parish Life Initiative on Sunday, January 20, 2019at 11:45am-1:15pm in the school cafeteria. Last summer we participated in a survey for the All is Gift project. From those surveys we learned that parishioners wanted to see more ‘town hall meetings’ where information could be presented en masse. This is a great idea and I’m happy to do it.

After discussion and discernment, though, a group of parishioners have come together and have collaborated to make these ‘town halls’, now called “Parish Life Initiatives”, not just information sharing, but also an opportunity to provide feedback and ideas about how to enrich and engage the life of the parish in all its facets. So, our Parish Life Initiative is not just about information sharing, but it’s also going to be a group effort to brainstorm and share how we can enrich our parish community.

So, what are we going to do on the 20th? Well, come and see! I’m inviting all parishioners: young, old, families, singles. Anyone who has a vested interested in the life of the parish, our present and future- please come and be a part of the Parish Life Initiative. We all have something to contribute to the life of the parish because we are all essential, vibrant and vital members of the community. WE are SJA!!!

We’ll begin with donuts after the 10:30am Mass. After some fellowship, we’ll start and will conclude by 1:15pm.

-Our agenda will include:

1. A summary of the survey results

2. A vision statement by the pastor

3. A brief presentation of our financial position

4. Break out groups to share ideas on enriching our apostolic and community life

5. An opportunity to ask questions of the pastor/parish leadership

Please come with ideas and a willingness to share!

I’ll look forward to seeing you on January 20th at our Parish Life Initiative.

4. Under “Payment Method” choose how you would like to set up your contributions.

a. You can directly debit your checking account or click on the “Add Charge Card” if you would prefer that option. (Remember if you choose either a debit or credit card you will need to go in whenever your card expires and enter the new expiration month and year.)

5. Continue by clicking on “Create Payment”

a. Continue by choosing the “Gifts” you would like to donate to. Each one will ask you if this is a one-time, or a reoccurring, gift.

If you have any trouble please contact Our Sunday Visitor at (800)348-2886 and choose Option 1 for Customer Service. Their business hours are 7:30 am to 5 pm Eastern Standard Time.

Thank you for choosing On Line Giving and supporting the work and Mission of St. Joan of Arc parish!

Friends,Members of the parish finance council met on May 24th and we decided to keep our Kid Kare program going. We’ve had some success with this program over the years and while we’ve had some staff turnover and some building issues recently, we’re committed to providing this service to the young families of our parish and neighborhood. A healthy percentage of Kid Kare children will be joining the Kindergarten class at South City Catholic Academy for the upcoming school year. The summer program is at capacity. We’ll be making some improvements and repairs to the building over the summer months. Please help spread the word: St. Joan of Arc Kid Kare is open for business!

The school year at South City Catholic Academy has ended. Enjoy summer break, everyone! And a big THANK YOU to all those who support the mission and ministry of Catholic Education here at SJA. It takes a parish to make it all go- it’s a beautiful thing when, moved by Grace, we work together to BE and DO Church!

And finally, THANK YOU to all those who made a gift to the Annual Catholic Appeal. Once again, SJA has surpassed it’s goal. THANK YOU to the Farkases and Provazniks for their leadership in coordinating our efforts. We’ll have a final number in a couple of weeks after we wrap up the last few requests.

OK- I’m in California this weekend for a wedding of some SJA parishioners who are originally from Modesto, CA. I’ll be back on Monday, June 4th. You’ve got the good Monsignor all weekend!

Some have asked about that quotation from Romano Guardini on Humility. Here it is. It come from his book called, The Lord.

"The attitude of the little man who bows to the greater is none not of humility but of truth; genuinely humble is the greater man who bows before the lesser because in his eyes the little man has a mysterious dignity. To recognize this dignity, to gather it up and bow before it- that is humility."